We Need to Stop Sending Unskilled Volunteers to Countries That Need Care

"I saw an 18-year-old British high school graduate wielding a saw, at a patient’s side."

This is an actual nurse treating children in Haiti. Image: U.S. Navy/Wikimedia

In the same week the US presidential election dominated headlines, at the International Association for Volunteer Effort conference in Mexico City, Shalil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, addressed the crowd, saying, "in the ecosystem of social good, there is room for every type of approach. As long as we share some common values and are working towards positive social good." Volunteerism is important and, properly channeled, can be beneficial.

Frequently, we consider poor and vulnerable populations so needy they're thankful for any help they can get. However, in the realm of international medical volunteering, there are nuances and complexities overlooked when we make room for "every type of approach" without taking seriously the tremendous responsibility that should accompany the desire to help. Unskilled volunteers should do unskilled labor, not professional work that, done wrong, could cause harm.

In June 2013, in northern Tanzania, as I walked into an operating room for minor procedures of the government hospital where I'd been doing research, I saw an 18-year-old British high school graduate wielding a saw, at a patient's side. He was preparing to amputate the leg of an unconscious motorcycle accident victim. He was a foreign volunteer, with no medical training.

Had I walked from the surgical theater to the maternity ward, I would have observed a similarly-upsetting yet all-too-common scene in Tanzanian health facilities: Foreign high schoolers or undergraduates delivering babies, lacking adequate medical training, the mothers unaware that these foreigners in white coats possess no credentials whatsoever.

Meanwhile, volunteers regularly usurp Tanzanian professionals, who could do their job more efficiently without foreigners crowding them out. In one facility I've observed, foreigners outnumbered Tanzanian health professionals 2 to 1, and frequently outnumbered patients.

Tanzanian health professionals rarely voice protest. Volunteer placement organizations provide facilities with modest monetary compensation for hosting, which, in a cash-strapped health system, can do some good. Hosting facilities see volunteers not as hands-on helpers, but rather as prospective sources of funding. Money is helpful.

For students, the desire to be helpful is often coupled with a hope that volunteering will help get them into medical school. The majority of medical schools require applicants demonstrate "clinical experience." Few define what "clinical experience" means, or list activities prospective applicants should not do.

Unskilled labor can be tremendously helpful in particular scenarios: clean-up efforts after natural disasters, soup kitchens, delivering food. However, while volunteerism is worthy, it carries responsibilities good intentions often overlook. In short, if a volunteer wouldn't be permitted to do a particular job here, they shouldn't do it elsewhere, either.

Noelle Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Global Health Studies and Anthropology at Northwestern University and a Public Voices Fellow. Reach her on Twitter at @ncsullivan.